Yeah you are right about using 3rd party apps but there is no way I was going to be able to rig 14 characters within a month to the level required. Especially when I have to work so can only do it on a part time basis (nightmare).
Not entirely sure what you mean by creating a duplicate skeleton. I am able to import the skeleton into maya with the animation but I am unable to import it so the information is transfered onto the setup machine skeleton in maya which currently has no animation on.